The demand for more powerful computers and communication products has resulted in faster processors that often have higher die temperatures and consume increasing amounts of power. However, design engineers struggle with reducing power consumption and die temperature.
Typically, a processor or microcontroller will utilize a clock multiplier. The clock multiplier is a ratio of a core frequency of the processor over a bus frequency. One typical solution is a throttle for changing the clock multiplier. For example, as the operating temperature of the integrated device rises, the operating frequency is reduced. Consequently, the integrated device cools down due to the lower operating frequency. Therefore, the operating frequency may be increased after the integrated device had cooled down. However, this throttle may have a detrimental impact on the processor's performance because the processor suffers from the long latency involved in switching the clock multiplier.